The need for efficient, cost effective, and reliable rock fracturing has gained priority, especially in mining operations. Typically, when a large rock or other especially hard material is found, conventional drill and blast methods using chemical explosives are used. These methods are not only potentially dangerous, but also time consuming.
Some earthmoving equipment, such as track type tractors come equipped with rippers. With conventional tractor/ripper arrangements, an operator will make at least two passes with the vehicle over the same ground area. During the first pass, the operator will engage the ripping apparatus. This is normally accomplished through actuation of a control lever within the operator's cab. As the ripper is pulled through the material, the material is fractured or broken up. This is an inefficient process, as most of the work is being done through the tip of the ripper. Consequently, the tip wears out at a fast rate and has to be replaced often. Furthermore, some material cannot be fractured or fragmented using conventional rippers.
One proposed solution is to use high voltage pulses through a pair of electrodes to fracture material. Most of these methods require that two electrodes be buried into the material to be fractured at a suitable depth. This frequency requires an additional drilling step to achieve that depth. Other pulsing methods require that the material to be fractured and the electrodes be immersed in water or other liquid.
The subject invention is directed at overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.